NATIONAL BRIEFS

High-court Justice Breyer robbed in vacation home

WASHINGTON — Justice Stephen Breyer was robbed last week by a machete-wielding intruder at his vacation home in the West Indies, a Supreme Court spokeswoman said Monday.

The 73-year-old Breyer, wife Joanna and guests were confronted by the robber Thursday evening in the home Breyer owns on the Caribbean island of Nevis, spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said. The intruder took about $1,000 in cash and no one was hurt, Arberg said.

She said the robbery was reported to local authorities, but she did not know if an arrest has been made.

No injuries are reported as moderate quake hits

TRINIDAD, Calif. — A moderate earthquake struck Northern California’s coast Monday afternoon, rattling nerves around the Oregon border but yielding no immediate reports of major injury or damage, officials said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude-5.6 quake struck at 1:07 p.m. about 18 miles east of Trinidad in an unincorporated part of Humboldt County.

The epicenter is a rural area near the small community of Weitchpec, about 220 miles northwest of Sacramento.

Lawyer: Life term unfair in plane-attack attempt

DETROIT — A mandatory life sentence for a Nigerian who tried to blow up a Detroitbound plane is cruel and unfair, a defense attorney said Monday as he asked a judge to declare the punishment unconstitutional.

No one aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 187 except Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was physically injured, Anthony Chambers said. Abdulmutallab’s groin was severely burned when he tried to ignite a bomb in his underwear.

Abdulmutallab is returning to court for his sentence Thursday, four months after he pleaded guilty to trying to destroy an Amsterdam-to-detroit flight on Christmas Day 2009. Two of the crimes carry a mandatory life sentence.